Circadian light response in the orb-weaving spider Metazygia wittfeldae

This dataset contains raw activity files and resulting phase responses of 128 spiders subject to a 1-hour pulse of light across the circadian day. It also contains the gene expression matrices and annotation files underlying the differential-expression analysis in [Toporikvoa, 2026, PLOS ONE, in revision]. Spiders (Metepeira wittfeldae) were entrained to a 12:12 light: dark cycle; on the final night, one group received a 1-hour light pulse at the time of maximal behavioral light sensitivity (CT 17–18), and a control group did not. RNA was sequenced from both groups at two time points (1 hour and 10 hours after the pulse) to detect light-induced and candidate phase-shifted transcripts. Files: RSEM_gene_counts_matrix_int.csv — raw integer gene-count matrix (RSEM expected counts, rounded), the input to the edgeR differential-expression analysis. RSEM.gene.TMM.EXPR.matrix — TMM-normalized expression matrix (normalized expression values across all samples). MW_FIN_TRIM.new2.gene_info.csv — gene annotation table used to filter the transcriptome to protein-coding genes (includes classification scores used to remove chimeric/RNA/contaminant transcripts). ClockGene_MW_transcript_map.csv — mapping of canonical clock genes to their M. wittfeldae Trinity transcript IDs. PRC_Mwitt.csv - behavioral phase-response-curve (PRC) data underlying Figure 1A. Each row is one spider in a light-pulse trial; the table gives the free-running period before and after a 1-hour light pulse and the resulting phase shift as a function of the pulse's circadian phase. 8Jun_23June2017_M2_Mw_1hrPRC.txt, 11Aug_17Sep2017_M7_Mw_1hrPRC.txt, 21July_17Aug2017_M6_Mw_1hrPRC.txt, 30Jun_8July2017_M6_Mw_1hrPRC.txt - original locomotion monitor data for activity during PRC experiment